DECEMBER 19, 2022 — Abigail Rhodes is not your typical undergraduate college student. Mother of four and grandmother of two, she enrolled at UTSA to follow her ambitions of becoming an elementary school teacher after nearly 25 years in the finance field.
In 2019, she completed her bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary education and is now pursuing her graduate degree in special education in UTSA’s College of Education and Human Development. Rhodes was recently awarded the Samjatha Govindaraju Endowed Graduate Scholarship, which is helping to fund her research and has given her the encouragement she needs to keep going as she continues to work and parent full-time.
Since graduating high school in 1987, Rhodes has worked for both AT&T and JP Morgan Chase. While her finance jobs treated her well, she was always interested in a career in education. Seeing her own son’s positive experience at UTSA and frequent visits to the campus as a Roadrunner parent, Rhodes decided it was the right school for her too.
Dedicated to always keeping her brain active, Rhodes says she lives by the philosophy: “You’re never too old to learn, but if you stop learning, you might just get old.” This outlook on life pushed her to pursue her education.
Rhodes, who admires people with special needs, focused her graduate research on language development and the different ways children with autism learn to read. Rhodes believes that children have to succeed at their own pace and that pushing students too hard can have detrimental effects on both their academic performance and their mental health. To make their successes possible, it is paramount that educators understand neurodiversity and the unique ways that children with autism view and interact with the world, she said.
“No one should just say that a child can’t read because he or she isn’t on a certain scale. All you have to do is slow down,” Rhodes explained. “Educators need to have patience and understand that everyone is different and should be different. Not everyone fits into a chart.”
As she plans her new career as a teacher, Rhodes said she hopes to work in an inclusive classroom where students with special needs and those with typical needs learn together. She remains incredibly grateful for the scholarship support she has received from the Govindaraju family. It lessened the amount of her loans and most importantly, the scholarship has given her confidence as she pursues her education at a less common time in life than that of most college students.
“Receiving the scholarship gave me such a boost psychologically,” Rhodes said. “Of course, I have my family who are very proud of me, but to have someone who is a stranger show they believe in you and what you bring to the table—It means so much to me and shows me it’s all worth it.”
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Covidence is a systematic & scoping review tool used to streamline the process of screening and reviewing articles. Using this software, research teams can easily import studies, perform automatic deduplication, and extract data using templates. This workshop will show attendees how to start a review in Covidence, add collaborators, and get started on screening.
Virtual (Zoom)In this workshop, attendees will be introduced to Pandas, a Python tool for working with data easily. It makes it simple to organize and analyze information when data is organized and categorized, like spreadsheets or tables.
Group Spot B, John Peace LibraryEach fall and spring semester, students convene at the Main Campus at UTSA with booths, ideas and prototypes. A crowd of judges, local organizations, students, faculty and sponsors walk around and talk to the students about their projects and ask questions. Students get the real-life experience of "pitching" their project with hopes of getting funding or support to move to the next level.
UTSA Convocation Center, Main CampusJoin the doctoral candidates for the Doctoral Conferreal Ceremony and celebrate their accomplishments.
Arts Building Recital Hall, Main CampusCelebrate the graduates from the Carlos Alvarez College of Business, College of Education and Human Development, Margie and Bill Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design and University College.
AlamodomeCelebrate the graduates from the College for Health, Community and Policy, College of Liberal and Fine Arts and College of Sciences.
AlamodomeThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
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